The death of legendary private eye George Rowell looked like an accidentbut searching for the truth behind it will put down-and-out East Village detective Payton Sherwood on the corpse-littered trail of a runaway investment scam artist, a drug-addicted reality TV starand the bewitching beauty whose appearance set it all in motion...
Every morning the world wakes up and absolutely nothing happens until someone sells something to somebody was the favorite shibboleth of Rudy Kirsch, successful entrepreneur and owner and founder of Dynograph Security Systems and Amalgamated Development. His uncanny ability to understand sales types as he called salesmen and sales managers and his facility for recognizing talent and cutting through the smoke screen of empty glibness often proffered by mediocre and failed sales types served him well. The first step in becoming a successful salesman is recognizing you have to work your ass off and that gift of gab has very little to do with it, he would say, often in frustration. This ability enabled Kirsch to put together a team of three very talented people and ask that they save what was left of his empire, namely Dynograph Security Systems. Amalgamated was established by Rudy ten years earlier when he became bored with Dynograph and left it in the incompetent hands of Mitch Feldman and his brother in law Bernie Klein. Now Rudy was in big trouble, up to his ears in debt both personal and business mostly as a result of the collapse of Amalgamated Development, one of the largest and most successful Florida home site sales organizations. Changes in the tax codes as well as much tougher administrative rules and regulations adopted by a variety of federal regulatory agencies all but killed the Florida land sale business. Rudy had no choice but to roll up his sleeves and reassume command at Dynograph. He convinced Chet Landers, his dynamic and incredibly successful vice president of sales at Amalgamated to not only join him but to accept the challenge of doubling sales at Dynograph in twelve months or less. Rudy had grown to admire Chet both as a man and as a manager and gave him carte-blanch to straighten out the mess created by Mitch and Bernie, clean house and right the Dynograph ship and do it quickly or all would be lost. Cast of characters: Steve Holiday From washing machine repairman to legendary sales manager at Dynograph. Chet Landers Football star, war hero, actor, TV icon, retirement consultant, incredible motivator, cleaned house and saved the day at Dynograph. Got rid of the vipers. Ted Sternweiss Left his South Bronx upbringing behind him except for a terrific left hook, added a new dimension to sales at Dynograph. Rudy Kirsch Understood sales types. Was a builder, the driving force behind it all. Became Chet Landers father many times. Selma Kirsch Hated it all. Knew about Debra. Debra Remington Rudys loyal executive assistant and lover of ten years. Skippy Leonard Played trumpet for Arturo Toscanini and worked for Rudy Kirsch. Brought Chet Landers to Amalgamated Development to sell home sites in Florida. Claude and Nadine a unit at an Amalgamated Development sales dinner. David Frost Teds protg, sales super star. Friendship jeopardized in confusion of success. Rose Holiday Jersey girl. Shows wisdom and insight near the end. Howie Weinfeld A different kind of salesman. Had secret weapon. Kevin Boyle Treachery was his middle name. Dave Gordon He did it his way. He trusted no one. Abby Sternweiss Of the Montgomery, Alabama Chennaults. Mitch Feldman President of Dynograph. Gave Bernie Klein a free hand. Bernie Klein Created a vipers nest at Dynograph while Rudy was away. He and Mitch loved it. John Sullivan Viper. Irv Norman Viper. Don Vorhees Viper. Meyer Chrystal Viper. Sam Rizzo Not quite a Viper. A
This is a laugh-out-loud exploration of sexuality, family, female friendship, grief, and community. With the heart and hilarity of Netflix's critically-acclaimed Sex Education, Wibke Brueggemann's sex positive debut Love Is for Losers is required reading for Generation Z teens. Did you know you can marry yourself? How strange / brilliant is that? Fifteen-year-old Phoebe thinks falling in love is vile and degrading, and vows never to do it. Then, due to circumstances not entirely in her control, she finds herself volunteering at a local thrift shop. There she meets Emma . . . who might unwittingly upend her whole theory on life.
This neo-noir urban thriller takes a walk on the wild side of New York's East Village--and introduces Payton Sherwood, a novice private detective who stumbles onto murder.
Cammy Hall is what anyone would describe as a loser. She lives with her grandparents and has adopted their way of life… right down to the comfortable shoes and early bedtime. And can she help it that she actually likes to knit? At school, her skills with knitting needles and some yarn go completely unappreciated: people like Bekka Bell reign while Cammy and her best friend, the fearless Danish exchange student Gerdi, watch from the sidelines. Cammy’s used to being an outsider; after years of humiliating moments, her goal is simply to fly under the radar. Then she suddenly starts receiving mysterious text messages that lead her right to all the embarrassing secrets about the most popular kids in school. Cammy never expected to be able to climb up the high school food chain, and the agenda of the texter may be questionable—but how can she possibly give up the chance to be Queen? This is the print version of the groundbreaking online interactive serial LOSER/QUEEN that premiered in July 2010 on www.loserqueen.com. Each week, readers voted on major plot twists. The winning choice was then encorporated into the next week's chapters. Now that voting—and the book—are complete, LOSER/QUEEN will be published as a paperback and packed with extras from the author… and readers will have the opportunity to own the book they helped create! Jodi Lynn Anderson, the national bestselling author of Peaches and The Secrets of Peaches, has lived in Georgia, Costa Rica, and New York, but she currently lives in Washington, D.C. Brittney Lee is a designer and animator. She lives in Emeryville, CA.
When a family argument turns into an urgent hunt for a missing child, seventeen-year-old Annie Boots must do everything in her power to bring her nephew home safely. Chris Crutcher, the acclaimed and bestselling author of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, shares a provocative story about family, loss, and loyalty that is perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Laurie Halse Anderson. The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books called Losers Bracket “Genuine and affecting.” When it comes to family, Annie is in the losers bracket. While her foster parents are great (mostly), her birth family would not have been her first pick. And no matter how many times Annie tries to write them out of her life, she always gets sucked back into their drama. Love is like that. But when a family argument breaks out at Annie’s swim meet and her nephew goes missing, Annie might be the only one who can get him back. With help from her friends, her foster brother, and her social service worker, Annie puts the pieces of the puzzle together, determined to find her nephew and finally get him into a safe home. Award-winning author Chris Crutcher’s books are strikingly authentic and unflinchingly honest. Losers Bracket is by turns gripping, heartbreaking, hopeful, and devastating, and hits the sweet spot for fans of Andrew Smith and Marieke Nijkamp.
Ethan Winfield has never been an academic or athletic star like his older brother, Peter. But does that make him a failure? Of course not. Still, Ethan and his best friend, Julius Zimmerman, decide that they qualify to found an exclusive club: Losers, Inc. No sooner have they done this, however, than both boys fall in love with the new student teacher. Ethan knows right away that to impress Ms. Gunderson he has to excel. Instead of reading the shortest book for his report, he has to read the longest. Instead of working with Julius on the worst project for the science fair, he has to make the best one--alone. Unfortunately, it isn't Ms. Gunderson who falls for Ethan, but Lizzie Archer, class nerd. The teasing is unbearable! So without regard for Lizzie's feelings--and over Julius's objections--Ethan helps hatch a plot to prove that he's not Lizzie's boyfriend. The result is that even as he reports on a book that's longer than any Peter read in the sixth grade, and prepares a potentially winning science project, Ethan feels that he doesn't deserve anyone's love--not Ms. Gunderson's, not Lizzie's, not Julius's, not his own. Claudia Mills, creator of Dinah Seabrooke (Dynamite Dinah, Dinah for President, Dinah in Love, Dinah Forever) and other overachievers, portrays a boy who needs a reason to strive, finds one, then realizes that success isn't enough. Smart, funny, and down to earth, this hero engages and entertains as he struggles mightily to grow up.
The beloved New York Times bestselling author of the modern classic Frindle celebrates books and the joy of reading with a new school story to love! Sixth grader Alec can’t put a good book down. So when Principal Vance lays down the law—pay attention in class, or else—Alec takes action. He can’t lose all his reading time, so he starts a club. A club he intends to be the only member of. After all, reading isn’t a team sport, and no one would want to join something called the Losers Club, right? But as more and more kids find their way to Alec’s club—including his ex-friend turned bully and the girl Alec is maybe starting to like—Alec notices something. Real life might be messier than his favorite books, but it’s just as interesting. With The Losers Club, Andrew Clements brings us a new school story that’s a love letter to books and to reading and that reminds us that sometimes the best stories are the ones that happen off the page—our own! Winner of the Rhode Island Children's Book Award (2019) Winner of the International Reading Association and Children's Book Council: Children's Choices List (2018) Winner of the Garden State Children's Book Award (2020) 2021 Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominee A Kansas William White Master List Selection (2018 & 2019) An Arkansas Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award Nominee (2019) A California Young Reader Medal Nominee (2019) A Nebraska Golden Sower Award Nominee (2019) A Virginia Young Readers Program Award Nominee (2019) A Minnesota Maud Heart Lovelace Award Nominee (2019) A Missouri Mark Twain Award Nominee (2019) An Oregon Reader’s Choice Award Nominee (2019) Praise for The Losers Club! * "Clements’s latest is engaging and funny. A laugh-out-loud first purchase for all middle grade collections, and a solid read-aloud choice for classrooms."—School Library Journal, Starred Review "Clements is out to celebrate reading in all its obsessiveness, and...tosses in shout-outs to a passel of other writers. [The Losers Club] gives fried bookworms everywhere the satisfaction of knowing that friends may desert them (if only temporarily) but books never will. "—The New York Times Praise for Andrew Clements! “Clements is a genius.” —The New York Times “We have never read an Andrew Clements book that we haven’t loved.” —The Washington Post
Over the last six seasons of The Biggest Loser, you've watched as contestants shed pounds, got healthy, and dramatically changed their lives for the better. In fact, you may have been so inspired by the show's remarkable success stories that you've considered embarking on your own weight loss journey. If you're looking to get healthy now, there's good news: You don't have to spend time at the ranch to benefit from The Biggest Loser magic. The Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start brings all of the secrets of the ranch right into your own home. The Biggest Loser experts—the same ones who advise the contestants—are here to walk you through a 30-day plan that will kick off your weight loss and help you build new, healthy habits. In this book you'll find easy-to-follow menus, recipes, exercise plans, and motivation for each day of the week. You'll also find helpful tips and advice from past Biggest Losers who have been in your shoes, including the nine contestants from Season 7 who left the ranch early to follow this very plan at home. So far, the Biggest Losers have lost more than a combined 10,000 pounds. But for each of them, the journey started with a commitment: to health, to weight loss, and to themselves. The first steps toward a healthier future are in this book—what are you waiting for? Make the commitment, take the leap—and begin your 30 day jump start today!
"At a sports-crazy NJ high school where all kids must play on a team, a group of rebels start[s] a soccer team designed to undermine the jock-culture of the school"--